If this is your first visit, be sure to
check out the FAQ by clicking the
link above. You may have to register
before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages,
select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below.

For the 'hey, you guys' thing, you might want to change it to 'hey, lads!' though NOT to laddies. One is English/Irish, one is Scottish. Very Scottish. Then again, when saying 'hello', it would usually just be 'Hey!' or something like that. 'Hey, lads!' would be more used in sentences like, 'Hey, lads, wait up!''

I'm not quite sure what you meant by your last post...it kinda confused me...

~Kathy

PS - mods, let me know if I can't answer here. I'm Irish, and I wasn't sure whether it was people from the British Isles or people from England who were allowed to answer.

Oh sorry. In the last post I ment that Remus was saying somthign along the lines of "You guys were my first friends." So would he then say "You lads where my first friends." But Lily is there to...so what then?

You know, I was trying to decide whether guys would definately have been used in the seventies, thinking it probably was but not knowing if my mind was playing tricks, and then I suddenly had Jimmy Saville (slightly bonkers seventies Brit DJ) in my head with one of his catchphrases "Now, then, now then, guys and gals." So I think we can categorically say that guys was used in most contexts back then.

(saying back then suddenly makes me feel very old indeed *weeps*)

Kathy, feel free to answer any question that you know the answer to. Ireland does have some differences, but only in the way that Wales and Scotland do. (and Cornwall. *eyes Cornish warily*) (Someone please don't give me a lecture on the Republic being a different country; I know this. )

Blessed is he who expects nothing, for he shall never be disappointed.

Hi Again!

Hi again! Me here with a new question... I have a story in which both Harry and Hermione work at the MoM. One time, Hermione visits Harry unexpectedly and Harry says something like 'what brings you to these parts of the building?'. Would that be a correct British expression? Or should he say something else?

I would say that's perfectly fine. While it's American in essentials, the English do say it, and especially if it was in a joking way. Another phrase is "What brings you to this neck of the woods?" That's used quite a lot.

What do you call the store where you buy food? Here, we call it the grocery store, but I know other places in the US refer to it as a supermarket, and sometimes just the market. Would supermarket be a fairly safe term?

And what do you call the people who run the cash register? Cashiers? I saw a fic that used the term "checkout assistants", but that's not a phrase I'm familiar with. Is it correct?

What do you call the store where you buy food? Here, we call it the grocery store, but I know other places in the US refer to it as a supermarket, and sometimes just the market. Would supermarket be a fairly safe term?

And what do you call the people who run the cash register? Cashiers? I saw a fic that used the term "checkout assistants", but that's not a phrase I'm familiar with. Is it correct?

I'd say grocery store was very American. Supermarket would be used, or, more likely, the name of the supermarket. The big four in Britain are Sainsbury's, Tesco, Asda and Morrisons. You'd be more likely to say "I'm just popping out to Tesco" than "I'm just going to the supermarket". Although if you were unfamiliar with the area you would probably ask if there were any supermarkets around rather than get too specific. If it's a little store then you would just call it a shop.

Checkout assistant and checkout operator would, at one time, have been the most popular but cashier is becoming more common (especially in supermarket literature, because it's shorter ) However, the checkouts are usually called checkouts rather than cash desks, especially in supermarkets. In boutiques or high street stores then they would more likely be referred to as cash desks - or you would just say you were going to pay.

Blessed is he who expects nothing, for he shall never be disappointed.